Border Wall Plan Unites GOPers and Dems in Texas: ‘This Is Insane’
"Plans for a wall in Big Bend National Park prompted public protests and behind-the-scenes lobbying to sway the Trump administration to stop."
Source: NYTimes, 03/31/2026
Natural Resources
Gas Prices Are Environment — and Human — Story
As the Iran war effectively turns the Strait of Hormuz into a bottleneck for much of the world’s oil and natural gas, the price of gasoline in the United States has spiked, creating inflationary worries. So it’s a good time for journalists to remind their audiences of the overall environmental impacts of fossil fuels. TipSheet has more, including 10-plus story ideas and reporting resources.
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"Japan and the U.S. Agree to Team Up on Seabed Mining"
"The United States has spent nearly a year pursuing deep sea mining without cooperation from the rest of the world. Now, Japan has said it will help out." "The arrangement could signal a fracture in the decades-long effort among nations to reach consensus on how to mine the ocean floor while protecting ecosystems."
Source: NYTimes, 03/30/2026
Medicinal Plants In National Parks of Appalachia Are Facing Several Threats
"Medicinal and aromatic plants in the Appalachian Mountains, which have stood for hundreds of millions of years and contributed to biodiversity across the region, are facing threats from poaching, climate change, and more. The multiple national parks dotting the region are often havens for these plants, though even the protections afforded by the parks cannot prevent all threats."
Source: National Parks Traveler, 03/27/2026
"US Has Caused $10Tn Worth Of Climate Damage Since 1990, Research Finds"
"The US has caused an eye-watering $10tn in global damages to the world over the past three decades through its vast planet-heating emissions, with a quarter of this economic pain inflicted upon itself, new research has found."
Source: Guardian, 03/27/2026
NASA Earthdata Offers a New Look at What Satellites See Down Here
The capacity to visualize Earth’s ecosystems in detail is an invaluable aid to reporting on the environment. That’s now being bolstered with an ongoing upgrade to NASA’s Earthdata program, fueled by its ranks of satellites. Reporter’s Toolbox says the refurbishment offers treasures for journalists ranging from oceans, groundwater and land surfaces to the biosphere and atmosphere.
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Insect Decline Poses Foundational Ecological Hazards
Bugs may get a bad rap, but a serious possible global decline in their populations is making clearer what may be lost for ecosystems and human societies. Issue Backgrounder peers beneath the detritus to find what insects do, how we try to kill them and how they survive, and why it’s so hard to pin down the data around their shifting numbers.
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Trump DOI Issues Sudden Waiver Allowing Budd-Falen To Work On Grazing
"Ethics officials at President Donald Trump’s Interior Department granted Karen Budd-Falen, the agency’s No. 3 official, a waiver on March 11 — the very day that Public Domain inquired about her recent work on grazing issues — that provides her wide latitude to work on grazing policy and permitting, despite her family’s vast personal holdings in the public lands grazing industry."
Source: Public Domain, 03/23/2026
"Big Oil Knew It Was Wrecking Louisiana’s Coast, Records Show"
"Now, parish lawsuits, including one in front of the Supreme Court, could make oil giants pay to restore the state’s vanishing marshes."
Source: ExxonKnews, 03/19/2026
Apache Women Ask Supreme Court To Stop Transfer Of Oak Flat Land For Mine
"The transfer of federal forest land in Arizona to a pair of international companies that plan to mine one of the largest copper deposits in North America is complete, but a group of Apache women is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene as a last-ditch effort to stop the project."
Source: AP, 03/17/2026
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